NEWS
and views!
Whangarei District Council
Well-beings and oil wells
AUTHOR Frank Newman DATE 16 Apr 2018
It’s been a big week in politics. Last week saw the first reading in Parliament of the Local Government (Community Well-being) Amendment Bill. The purpose of the Bill is to reverse changes made ...
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Council derivatives
AUTHOR Frank Newman DATE 08 Apr 2018
Derivatives are the sort of things you generally only come across in movies about wheelers and dealers in far-away places like New York and London - but they have a relevance much closer to home. ...
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Nice-to-haves drive rates and debt increases
AUTHOR Frank Newman DATE 07 Apr 2018
The Whangarei District Council (WDC) is currently going through a "Have your say" process about its Long Term Plan 2018-2028 (LTP) . Submissions to the plan close tomorrow, the 8th....
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Notable Trees
AUTHOR Frank Newman DATE 27 Oct 2017
The WDC is currently going through what it calls a pre-consultation stage of a plan change regarding the management of protected trees in the district. They say, "Pre-consultation represents a great o...
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Maori seats on Council
AUTHOR Better! Whangarei DATE 27 Oct 2017
Should two of the 13 WDC council seats be reserved for Maori only?...
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Should 2 of the 13 WDC council seats be reserved for Maori?
AUTHOR Better! Whangarei DATE 09 Oct 2017
On 16 August 2017 the WDC mayor and councillors met to discuss the way the council is elected.
The briefing notes state:
"Over the next 15 months, there are three separate processes required to be u...
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Why is council over-charging for water?
AUTHOR Brian Mclachlan DATE 07 Aug 2017
Council stores, treats and delivers water to those on the reticulated system. For this service it charges a targeted rate calculated on a per cubic meter used by each customer. Council is charged unde...
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Mayor Mai leads conference contingent
AUTHOR Frank Newman DATE 27 Jul 2017
Local Government is clearly very important to the nation (as was the Home Guard in WWII). Last week some 600 delegates, including a contingent of eight from the Whangarei District Council, gathered in...
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Rubbish
AUTHOR Frank Newman DATE 25 Jul 2017
Whangarei made national headlines last week for its environment; well, for the trashing of the environment by people dumping rubbish on the roadside. The illegal dump reported in the news story had so...
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Council doors closed to public say
AUTHOR Frank Newman DATE 20 Jul 2017
This year the Whangarei District Council (WDC) took the unusual step of not consulting the public on its Annual Plan. I can't recall of any time in the past when councillors have not consulted, as it ...
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Northern Advocate: Whangarei District Council's annual plan adopted for coming year
AUTHOR Better! Whangarei DATE 04 Jul 2017
The latest Whangarei District Council annual plan features a lower than anticipated rates increase, an allocation for more sealing on notorious dusty rural roads and the delay of work on the Hikurangi...
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Hundertwasser
AUTHOR Susy Bretherton DATE 28 Jun 2017
I can not sit back and not comment on the Hundertwasser Art Centre project....
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Council buys RSA for $3.4m
AUTHOR Better! Whangarei DATE 27 Jun 2017
The Whangarei District Council has announced that it has bought the Whangarei RSA site at 9 Rust Ave for $3.4m. Better Whangarei understands the property has an independent market valuation of $3.175m...
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Applause for Hundertwasser campaigners
AUTHOR Frank Newman DATE 21 Jun 2017
Well done to the promoters of the Hundertwasser Art Centre project. Whether one supported the project or not, applause must go to those who got behind the project and put in the effort to reach the fu...
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Credit ratings and self-congratulations
AUTHOR Frank Newman DATE 09 Jun 2017
A recent reaffirmation of the Whangarei District Council's AA credit rating by Standard & Poors (S&P) has been trumpeted by the Council as good news....
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Council elected commissioners
AUTHOR Better! Whangarei DATE 30 May 2017
From time to time councillors are appointed as a commissioner to panels hearing changes to the District Plan (the planning and environment rules). ...
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WDC to set up Business Advisory Group
AUTHOR Better! Whangarei DATE 30 May 2017
The WDC is establishing a Business Advisory Group to help it become "more business friendly".
...
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Electric cars
AUTHOR Better! Whangarei DATE 29 May 2017
The Whangarei District Council has ordered its first electric vehicle and will be investigating further purchases as part of its ongoing fleet replacement....
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How much is WDC debt, really?
AUTHOR Better! Whangarei DATE 20 May 2017
There seems to be confusion about how much debt the Whangarei District Council really has. Here's the answer, as at 31 March 2017 - it is shown in the April agenda of the Finance and Corporate Co...
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Submissions axed
AUTHOR Brian Mclachlan DATE 29 Apr 2017
Recent changes to the 2002 Local Government Act allows new ways for Councils to talk to their ratepayers and residents about how rates money was spent. Previously, each new council adopted a Long Term...
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